Low BABIP Not Solely A Function Of Luck For David Murphy

Low BABIP Not Solely A Function Of Luck For David Murphy

ESPN’s Mark Simon took the time to look at all of the video of David Murphy‘s groundballs from the 2012 and 2013 season to try and discern whether his low batting average on balls in play (BABIP) was a function of luck or something else. For me, the task taken by Simon is one of my favorites as I am a big believer that velocity of a ground ball drive BABIP much more than the traditional view that it is a function of luck.

Mandatory Credit: Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports

In his article, Can David Murphy rebound? To the video …  Simon examines the “power of the groundball” as the data is broken up into hard, medium, and soft grounders. He then looks at how predictable his groundballs off the bat were.

He takes a look at Murphy’s swing and gets the opinions from scouts on what may be different in 2013 than in 2012. He examines whether defensive shifting hurt him in 2013 or did the defense rob him of a large quantity of hits with sparkling web gems?

He concludes his article:

"It would seem that there are two things for the Indians to work on with regards to Murphy as they relate to groundballs. There’s the physical side, to fix whatever is causing him to roll over and the mental side to make him realize that some of what happened last season was beyond his control.They felt confident enough to pay $12 million over two years to try."